Yesterday I woke up to sunshine and ice-y puddles in the carpark on the way to lectures. As I cycled, I noticed a man, probably older than myself, slowly and deliberately place his foot through the thin layer of ice, and receiving that satisfying 'crunch' in return.
In my lecture, the row of girls in front of me were wearing a blue and white stripy jumper, a maroon blouse, a dark blue denim jacket, and a mustard yellow sweater, all in a row. Their respective and relational colours made me so happy. It's the small things, friends.
I had muesli again for lunch because I only had 15 minutes to eat before going for a talk in church on 'How can we trust when we are so disillusioned with the world today?'
As I was walking back to my room, I peeked into my pigeonhole and saw a brown package from savesomegreen. Now, there is a funny story behind this. At the end of last year, I decided to order bamboo toothbrushes so that I wouldn't use plastic toothbrushes and essentially so I would cut down on my plastic waste. I ordered 12 toothbrushes, because when you do that the postage is free. On my first day back in college, I found a brown package with my toothbrushes inside, and I was so excited, and opened them, to find - 11 toothbrushes! I was confused - where was the last one? So I emailed the company, and they apologised and promised to send me the last toothbrush as well as a 'little extra something' for my trouble.
I expected something like a tea infuser or a bamboo fork or a discount voucher or something trivial like that.
But yesterday when I opened the brown paper package I was so amazed. Out came my missing toothbrush - and then 11 more! They had sent me 12 toothbrushes to make up for my missing one! So essentially I had ordered 12 toothbrushes, and now I have 23, which will last me all of university plus probably a significant part of my bond with NHB. I don't know how toothbrushes can make me so excited but well. They can.
Later on in the day one of the maintenance people came to fix my bathroom light, which means no more showers in the dark!
In the evening I lead worship for my cell group. I began with the prayer I'd heard in Rougham Church, which I thought was apt for the beginning of the New Year and the beginning of a new busy term:
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you;
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
Amen.
The study that night was on 2 Corinthians 1:1-14, on how God comforts us in our suffering because Jesus shared in our suffering - we have divine empathy (which is amazing because unlike humans who can never fully understand each others' pain, God can), and also Jesus rose above suffering to give us the divine hope of salvation. The study also reminded us about how this comfort is given to us, and we are able to share it with others, through the good news of the gospel, as well as through prayer. Although I often pray for my family and friends, I rarely pray for more distant figures like church leaders who obviously face suffering, as they are normal human beings, and yet have to find the strength every week to go up and preach God's word. I didn't have any concrete New year Resolutions this year, and this will probably be one - to pray consistently and faithfully for church leaders and ministry workers.
No comments:
Post a Comment